Fishermen sort and clean freshly caught fish in Sete, France.
Photographer: Balint Porneczi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Balint Porneczi / Bloomberg
German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner warned of “painful cuts” for the European Union’s fishing industry due to the trade agreement the bloc has reached with the United Kingdom.
Fisheries were one of the most contentious issues in the Brexit negotiations that concluded on Thursday and the agreement means that the EU’s catch quota in UK waters will fall by 25% over a five-and-a-half year period. . During this time, reciprocal access rights remain unchanged.
Kloeckner, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said she would have liked the cuts to be “significantly minor” as she pledged to support the sector.
Read more: Why are the UK and the EU fighting for fish?
“It is much more important that the agreement provides for a transitional period, with defined quota rules and guaranteed access to fishing areas,” Kloeckner said in an emailed statement.
“This provides at least some degree of planning security,” he added. “But it is also clear that we must support the fishermen and give them a hand in this difficult situation. Looking to 2026, it will be important to find a long-term solution ”.
French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said on Friday that the fisheries agreement is “a difficult but acceptable and feasible effort”, although he said the EU should not go beyond 25%. agreed.
“We have ways to apply pressure to ensure this hope, and we will fight for that, to keep access, “Beaune told Radio Europe1. France will support the fisheries sector with several tens of millions of euros whenever needed, he added.
– With the assistance of James Regan